posted May 27th, 2010 - It is not a secret in the skydiving world that Skydive DeLand has been dealing with a serious threat to the whole operation for a few years. The City of DeLand decided at the beginning of the affair that the DeLand Municipal Airport, home to Skydive DeLand, needed a control tower for the air traffic.

Federal funding was available to a certain amount, and city officials thought that they could not let the opportunity pass to spend some of those tax dollars - no matter whether the airport really needed a tower or not.

All major skydiving operations in the USA are based at airports without air traffic control towers, which allows the skydiving centers to run their operations more efficiently. They are usually the main users of the small airports anyway.

The situation in DeLand is different. Not only that Skydive DeLand is the main operator at the Municipal Airport, several manufacturers have also started their businesses in town or moved to DeLand for several reasons that are well known in the skydiving community: weather, aircraft, facilities, expertise.

Major industry players in the sport have their manufacturing and service facilities in DeLand, such as Alti-2, Aerodyne Research, Performance Designs, United Parachute Technologies, Mirage Systems, Jumpshack, Sky Systems and several other smaller companies.

The skydiving industry provides jobs for a total of almost 600 employees in DeLand. Mike Truffer edited the Skydiving Magazine from his DeLand office. Last not least, the National Skydiving League made DeLand its home for a good reason.

The City of DeLand has been well aware of the benefits that the skydiving community and industry has brought to the small college town. The tandem operation and popular events like the FSL Shamrock Showdown and SkyQuest attract citizens and visitors to DeLand on a regular basis. Teams from all over the world have come to DeLand for decades to run their training camps.

However, the city officials still had the vision to use federal funding and their own resources to build the control tower that was neither needed nor wanted. Only a few local pilots lobbied strongly for the city plans.

It was hard to imagine that the City of DeLand would really threaten the skydiving operation and eventually chase the skydiving industry and its community out of town. But it became reality when Mayor and City Commission voted 3-2 to go ahead with the plans a few years ago.

Fortunately, the skydiving industry in DeLand took the threat serious enough and joined forces to defend its own interests and operations. Even competitors in business decided to work together when it finally came to the point this year that the City of DeLand was preparing to accept the federal funding, add the city resources and move forward.

Crucial players in the skydiving industry, such as Roger Allen, Bill Booth, Bill Coe, John Eiff, Mike Johnston, Mark and Candace Procos, Bob Hallett and Mike Truffer, spent a lot of time together and developed strategies how to present their own position, which actually stands for skydiving in general.

It worked out at the end, as the DeLand City Commission voted with un expected 5-0 decision against the control tower, as the local newspaper reported below. The skydiving operation in DeLand will now continue as it has been, and the industry in town will probably move forward with plans for expansion that were held back due to the status quo. It was a good Wednesday evening for the sport...

DeLand City Commission nixes airport control tower

Posted by West Volusia Beacon staff writers Pat Hatfield and Barb Shepherd on May 26, 2010

After learning it will cost more than they thought to put up an air traffic control tower on the DeLand Municipal Airport, city commissioners have nixed the project.

After less than an hour of discussion at a special meeting that began at 6 p.m. today, May 26, at City Hall, the City Commission voted unanimously to postpone the project for the near future.

Fear that the tower would eat up all city monies targeted for airport improvements — and then some — spurred the vote.

City Manager Michael Pleus pointed out the city would need to borrow $350,000 to obtain a grant for construction of the control tower from the Florida Department of Transportation. A site behind the Airport Restaurant & Gin Mill had been selected for the tower.

"I can't see coming to you with the recommendation to fund the money," Pleus said.

Neither could City Engineer Keith Riger.

The best-guess estimate for the cost of the tower was $1.76 million. Operating and maintenance costs would be added to that.

The decision not to build a tower to regulate traffic on the airport comes as a relief to DeLand's skydiving industry.

Industry representatives have told the DeLand City Commission repeatedly that a tower could cripple their businesses, by slowing takeoffs and landings at the airport.

The city will revisit the tower topic in two to four years, Pleus said, after another review of the airport master plan. Whether state grant money will be available then to help fuel the project is not known.